Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Deborah was most popular in 1954, when 54,754 American babies were given the name — ranking #10 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,637, with 313 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 744,478 people named Deborah.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Deborah is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 146 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 744,478 American births named Deborah between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 616,805 are estimated to be alive today.
313 American babies were named Deborah in 2025, ranking #1,637 that year.
Deborah is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 299 births a year, against 344 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -13% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Deborah is a girl’s name — 99.8% of the 744,478 Americans given it were girls and 0.2% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 100% girls and 0% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 616,805 Americans named Deborah are alive today — 83% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 69 years old, and half are between 62 and 73. That is a narrow band: Deborah arrived and faded within about a decade rather than staying in steady use.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Hebrew · "bee"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Deborah on the interactive charts
About · Privacy · Contact
Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org